NewScientist reports, “Researchers at CERN think they have created and stored thousands of antiatoms in a particle trap. The researchers first used powerful magnetic fields to trap antiprotons then exposed this to a beam of positrons. Initial results indicate that at least some of the antiparticles have bound together to become neutral antihydrogen atoms. How cool is that?”
Continue reading… “Antimatter Atoms Captured – First Time Ever”
The End of Free
The End of Free keeps a list of the various transitions to paid services from free net sites. The list is getting longer. When I think of an individual site that’s really worthwhile I say to myself, “Sure, that site is worth $8.95 a month”. The problem is there are going to be lots of sites at $8.95 a month and it sure adds up.
Continue reading… “The End of Free”
Robots Beat Humans In Commodity Trading
NewScientist reports, “Robots can make more cash than people when they trade commodities, according to Jeffrey Kephart at IBM’s research centre in Hawthorne, New York.”
Kephart says his team’s findings could have a much greater impact than the famous victory of IBM’s Deep Blue supercomputer over chess supremo Gary Kasparov. “The impact might be measured in billions of dollars annually,” he says.
Micro-Bull – No Bigger than a Red Blood Cell
SMH reportsScientists in Japan fashioned the model – the smallest sculpture ever created – using a sophisticated laser technique.
The “micro-bull” measures 10 micrometres long by seven micrometres high. One micrometre is equivalent to a thousandth of a millimetre.
It was constructed from plastic resin by two computer-controlled infra-red laser beams which traced its outlines.
Continue reading… “Micro-Bull – No Bigger than a Red Blood Cell”
The World’s Smallest Deer
ABC News reports, “It’s about the size of a large beagle with thin, curving knife-like canines hanging from its mouth like a vampire, and it can bark for hours.
It’s not your neighbor’s pit bull puppy; it’s the world’s smallest deer. The species, weighing just 25 pounds and standing 20 inches tall at the shoulder, was found by Alan Rabinowitz of the Wildlife Conservation Society while on a 1997 biological survey in northern Burma.”
Continue reading… “The World’s Smallest Deer”
Scientists Build Super Broadband Laser
Reuters reports that scientists at U.S. telecommunications giant Lucent Technologies said on Wednesday they had built the world’s first semiconductor laser that emits light over a wide spectrum of infrared wavelengths.
The laser, developed at the company’s Bell Labs in Murray Hill, New Jersey, can be used to detect pollutants in the atmosphere, in medical diagnostic tools or in the future to produce semiconductor lasers for fiber optics.
Transparent Aluminum
The German magazine Spiegel reports, scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies have developed a transparent tile made from aluminium oxide pellets baked at 1200°C. The material is very hard, and could be used as bulletproof windows.
Continue reading… “Transparent Aluminum”
Web Rage Hits the Net
We have all heard of road rage and air rage. Now we have web rage.
More than half of all internet users admit to losing their rag with the net at least once a week, according to a Mori study. High on people’s stress meter is the length of time it takes websites to appear, help buttons that do not offer any help and requests for personal details before being allowed into a site.
NASA’s Earth – Most Detail Picture Ever
BBC News has a story on how scientists created the most accurate and detailed image of our planet yet, composing the image from satellite data, and adjusting it for the correct colours. Composite satellite images showing the cloud-free Earth have been made before, but Nasa’s latest image beats all others in terms of accuracy and the amount of data that went into it.
Museum Explains Why Snot Exists
The London Science Museum is inviting children to learn about the “impolite” science of the human body in an exhibition at which they will be offered the chance to scale a wall of human skin — warts and all — and generate volcanic flatulence. Grossology is coming to London.
Continue reading… “Museum Explains Why Snot Exists”
Bob Bemer – Inventor of the Hyperlink – Goes to War
Wired Magazine reports, “Nobody should be more outraged over British Telecom’s claim that it owns the patent to hyperlinking than Bob Bemer, who believes he may be the world’s oldest, living computer programmer.
Bemer, 82, isn’t just taking a political stance against the recent legal filing by British Telecom that claims the company owns a patent on hyperlink technology. In 1960, Bemer — whose coding contributions form the foundation of many modern computer systems — came up with a critical coding concept that is now used in hyperlinks.”
Continue reading… “Bob Bemer – Inventor of the Hyperlink – Goes to War”
Finally, An Opera Without Any Humans
Stardust is a new opera that features no human actors. It’s an extravagant multimedia production. Not only are there no bearded tenors in frilly shirts, Stardust boasts that it has no singers at all. This is an opera where humans are conspicuous only by their absence: no actors, no dancers and, heaven forbid, no fat lady.
Continue reading… “Finally, An Opera Without Any Humans”